May be distributed and/or reprinted so long as (1) original credits and this notice are not removed, (2) any revisions, deletions, or additions are clearly identified, and (3) no charge is made, except possibly a nominal charge to cover copy costs. The authors offer this information freely to the community and make no warrantee as to its accuracy. PASSENGER LIST FAQ By Dennis Nicklaus nicklaus@wishep.physics.wisc.edu Are you interested in finding out which ship your ancestor came to the US in? For many immigrants (esp. second half of 19th century, early 20th), records do exist. Some are indexed, even. (I should note that I'm not trying to be a complete bibliography here. Just to give you an idea. There are whole books written on how to do this passenger finding, as well as bibliographies.) WHAT YOU CAN FIND If you happen find your ancestor in the passenger list, you can expect to find, of course, the exact arrival date and ship name, and where the ship left from. The passenger lists will almost always include names, where the people are from, and destination. "Where from" is often just a country, e.g. England, but on some of the german ships, the region (e.g. Baden-Wurtenburg, Bavaria) is common, and even the town name is given on some lists. Age, occupation, & amount of baggage are common to many lists. Often, when a whole family is in the list, the relationships are stated (e.g. daughter, wife). The destination is usually just "US", but sometimes names a specific state. If you find the arrival, and want to know exactly when the ship left, try the newspaper. The 19th century NY Times, at least, has an "Arrivals" column, which will list details such as date & port departed. I imagine most other newspapers would have something similar. I find it interesting to look at the newspaper for the day anyway, just to see what was going on when they arrived. WHERE TO START Your first step should be to find out when your ancestor arrived. The main ways to do this are: census records (1900- lists the year of arrival), naturalization records, family lore, whatever else you might find. WHERE TO LOOK After that, start digging through microfilm and books. With luck, your ancestor arrived in one of the indexed years/places. If you've checked the indexes and can't find them (or there is no index for you), there is no reason you can't go look at the original film yourself. For instance, NY 1847-1897 isn't indexed (that I know of). If you only know your ancestor arrived in 1870, you just have to start through the rolls of film for that year. For NY circa 1870, figure about 1 month worth of arrivals will fill one roll of microfilm. It will take you 1-2 hours to scan through that roll of film with some practice. You can use some speed tactics. For instance if you have a british immigrant, then you can *probably* safely skip the german ships. On microfilm from National Archives, there are passenger lists of arrivals as follows. These are on 100's of rolls of film, and index rolls are separate from the actual listings. New York from 1820 on, (indexed 1820-1846, and post 1897) ****** Can someone else please explain the post 1897 lists & indexes & how they are arranged. I've never used 'em. There is a separate publication which may be hard to find. It is only 118 pages, so I am not sure how complete it can be, but it is useful for its index: New York passenger arrivals, 1849-1868 : passenger lists / transcribed by Michael Cassady ; Sylvia Nimmo, editor. -- Papillion, Neb. : S. Nimmo, c1983. Lists were transcribed from microfilm copies at the National Archives, of the original lists at the National Immigration Archives at Temple University, Philadelphia. !!! Includes index.!!!! Atlantic & Gulf Coast Ports 1820-1873 Philadelphia 1800-1882 (indexed 1800-1906) Baltimore (1820-1891) (indexed 1833-1866) Boston (1820-1891) (indexed 1848-1891) New Orleans (1820-1902) Portland, ME 1820-1868, 1893-1943 Some other published immigrants to specific ports: San Francisco (1850-1875) Galveston (1846-1871) Mobile (1838-1860) One multi-volume work worth mentioning separately is: Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries / edited by P. William Filby, with Mary K. Meyer. -- Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., c1981 -- This is an alphabetized (within each volume) list of immigrants which Filby et al have extracted from previously published lists NOT including the official Customs and/or INS lists. Filby's major value is in locating obscure lists which were published in the "Podunk Times" or the "West b'Gawd G&HS Quarterly", which is how he intend(ed)(s) it to be used. It is not complete nor does it refer the user to the original passenger lists. It also uses sources other than passenger lists, such as naturalization or loyalty oath lists which were previously published. This is probably a very good place to start if your ancestor immigrated pre-1800 or so. In addition, there are special nationality passenger lists, published in book form. Below is a small sample of some of the more popular. There are many others, however, most more specific. There are also other books which can help for pre-1800 arrivals in some specific places. The Famine immigrants : lists of Irish immigrants arriving at the port of New York, 1846-1851 (indexed) Germans to America : lists of passengers arriving at U.S. ports (1850-1883) (many volumes, each covers a few months and is indexed) Irish passenger lists, 1847-1871 : lists of passengers sailing from Londonderry to America on ships of the J & J Cooke Line and the McCorkell Line Index to Mennonite immigrants on United States passenger lists, 1872-1904 Italians to America : lists of passengers arriving at U.S. ports, 1880-1899 Mayflower passengers 1620 Greek immigrant passengers, 1885-1910 Emigrants to Pennsylvania, 1641-1819 : a consolidation of ship passenger lists from the Pennsylvania magazine of history Swedish passenger arrivals in U.S. ports 1820-1850 Lloyds of London Registers of Shipping (a.k.a. port books) From 1786 on. Check with Mystic Seaport Museum or the LDS Lists Of Inhabitants Of Colonial New York by Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan Chapter Entitled Early Immigrants to New Netherland 1657-1664 (Passenger lists from this were posted to one of the soc.genealogy groups July 31 1995 if you can find those posts archived somewhere). I found this next one pretty cool in that it has the actual signatures on the lists, not just a compilation of the names: Pennsylvania German pioneers : a publication of the original lists of arrivals in the port of Philadelphia from 1727 to 1808 / by Ralph Beaver Strassburger ; edited by William John Hinke. -- Baltimore : Genealogical Pub. Co., 1992. Includes index. Originally published: Norristown, Pa. : Pennsylvania German Society, 1934. McManus, J. "Comal Co., TX and New Braunfels, TX German Immigration Ships 1845-1846", c1985. Copy in the San Antonio, TX library appears typewritten, mentions no reference sources and gives no address or publisher for McManus. The actual port of entry for these people was almost certainly Galveston, Texas. For the other side of the Atlantic, The Antwerp emigration index [Logan, Utah : Everton Publishers, 1986?] Hamburg Passenger Emigration lists These, and indexes to these, are available on microfilm through the LDS. (There is also a genealogical society in Hamburg which will look through them for you for a fee.) They will be called something like Hamburg Direct (or Indirect) Emigration lists (Register zu den Listen der direkten Auswanderer). "Direct" means the ship went straight to America. "Indirect" means it stopped on the way, for instance to pick up more passengers in Britain. The passenger list index (or Register) gives Surname Firstname Page-number Surnames are grouped by first letter. This is how it appears these registers were made - the clerk simply started on page 1, wrote all the A people down , went on to page 2 etc. So what you have is the A people in the order they emigrated, (and so not fully alphebetised), then the B people,... In most of the registers you can also find the ship and sailing date. So once you get the page number from these indexes, order the actual passenger lists for the year in question (also available from the LDS - a different reel from the index) zip through to page 1267 (or whatever) and you should find age, profession, *last residence* (this is the prize!) for your person. The arrangement is:- _________________________________________________________________---- Ship Name , Captain's name Date sailed, Destination A-Surnames, page numbers (typically about 20 pages per ship) .. .. .. Next ship name , Captain Date , Destination More Surnames , pages _______________________________________________________________ It's best to look through the whole register, in case there were several people with the same name who came in the same year, and to check the passenger list age to be sure you have the correct person. HOW DO I FIND THESE MICROFILMS OR BOOKS (Easy shortcut for the lucky few: Come to the State Historical Society Library in Madison, WI. That's where I've found many of the above books, unless otherwise noted.) Stop and think, "Where do I live? What libraries are there in town?" If you live in/near Capitol City, and maybe even if you don't, it could be that the state historical society has a big library near you. Otherwise, maybe you are very near a big library, such as a Big Ten school, Harvard,... Some large city public libraries can help. There are also several branch offices of the National Archives in major cities. If you find that there is a major library near, then go to that library and ask if they have ship passenger lists, or can order them through Inter Library Loan or from the National Archives (you may have to pay) Otherwise, if you are out in the stix somewhere, you can go to an LDS FHC and order copies of the microfilms for many of the above. You can't just order: "NY Passenger lists 1820-1897" because that's about 500 rolls of microfilm, so you'll order for a specific roll/date. In the early years (pre 1846ish), a whole year fits on one roll, but by 1870, only about 3 weeks are on a roll, depending on the season (many more people crossed in summer). At my FHC, at least, whenever anyone orders such a "passenger list index" film, they add it to their permanent local collection because they are a popular item. So you might check what they have on hand. PERSONAL EXPERIENCE Personally, I've had good luck and bad. Some ancestors, I knew the immigration month & year and found them in the unindexed films right away. Another, I just knew they year & found them. Another, the immigration year was stated in several references, and I looked through the entire year, and the German immigrant indexes, and never did find the guy. So YMMV. Good luck! HOW TO FIND MORE ABOUT THE SHIP Once you know the ship's name, you may be able to find out more about it, find a photo of it, or read what conditions were like for the passengers (in a word: bad). Here are some references which may help: Ships of our ancestors / Michael J. Anuta. -- Menominee, Mich. : Ships of Our Ancestors, inc., c1983. (lots of pictures, mostly 1850-1900) PASSENGER SHIPS OF THE WORLD, PAST AND PRESENT by Eugene W. Smith, published by George H. Dean Company, 1963 (mostly textual descriptions) There were two earlier books which were combined to make this edition. The earlier ones were called something like "Trans-Atlantic Passenger Ships, past and present" and "Trans-Pacific Passenger Ships". by the same author. The below book with pictures of steamships built by Swan Hunter All in all, 42 ships are presented. Passenger ships include Mauretania, Carpathia, Sobieski, Giulio Cesare, and several other Atlantic and Pacific liners bringing immigrants to North and South America, South Africa, Australia, etc. during second half of the 19th and first half of the 20th Century. AUTHORS: Ken Smith and Ian Rae TITLE: Swans of the Tyne: a pictorial tribute to the achievements of Tyne shipbuilders Swan Hunter PUBLISHED: Newcastle upon Tyne City Libraries & Arts and North Tyneside Libraries, c1994. SUBJECTS: Shipbuilding--Newcastle upon Tyne--History. NATIONAL BIB NO.: GB94-93192 ISBN: 1-85795-021-6 (pbk) If you are interested in getting a copy of the book send fax to: Ms Anna Flowers Publications Assistant Newcastle City Libraries & Arts FAX: 44-191-2611435 She will promptly send the book and bill you. (the person who told me about this book) paid 12.51 sterling pounds (about 20 U$S) for two books, including postage. You cannot pay by check unless you have a bank account in the UK. No credit cards are accepted. You will have to purchase an International Money Order at the post office. There's a nice 1850-ish article about the process of a ship departing from Liverpool floating around the WWW. *** URL Anyone???? ***** ADDRESSES Here are some addresses of helpful people: The Steamship Historical Society of America, Inc. University of Baltimore Library S.S.H.S.A. Collection 1420 Maryland Avenue Baltimore, MD 21201-5779 (410) 837-4334 The Mariner's Museum 100 Museum Drive Newport News VA 23606-3798 (804) 596-2222 Mystic Seaport Museum G.W. Blunt White Library Mystic, CT 06355 (202) 572-0711 I have bought photos from them. Price: from $3 for "contact proof" to $20 8x10. Peabody Essex Museum 161 Essex Street Salem, MA 01970 (617) 745-1876 I have bought photos from them. Price: $20 8x10 or 5x7. San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park Hyde Street Pier San Francisco, CA 94123 The below addresses are found in a pamphlet "A Key to your North European Roots" pub. in 1992. The brief descriptions are a very short summary of what the pamphlet says. In general, each of the libraries listed here has a lot more than what I state below. Denmark The Danes Worldwide Archives Ved Vor Frue Kirke P.O. Box 1731 DK - 9100 Aalborg Denmark Contains: Bunches of photos, letters, books Emigration lists compiled by Copenhagen police 1860-1940 microfilms of church records for most Danish parishes 1992 US $25 charge for requests rec. by post of phone. Finland Institue of Migration Piispankatu 3 20500 Turku Finland the usual lots of stuff info on 250,000 emigrants from pass. lists 1892-1910 passport lists 1890-1950 1992 fee: $US 25 (100 FmK) Germany Historic Emigration Office c/o Tourist Information am Unten Bei den St. Pauli Landungsbroecken 3 P.O. Box 10 22 49 D 2000 Hamburg 36 (old style zip there!) Has the old hamburg emigration lists. Charges (1992) $30/each name & year to be searched Great Britain Merseyside Martime Museum Albert Dock Liverpool L3 4AA Great Britain (They emphasize: "It does NOT hold ANY original passenger lists") "For at least 80 years, Liverpool was the busiest emigrant port in the whole of Europe" It does contain A library of emigration literature Original & coies emigrant letters, diaries,. etc. (& computer database of same) copies of Some US archives passenger lists films The study of Shackamaxon, a vessel which sailed from Liverpool to both USA and Australia in the 1850s. Norway The Norwegian Emigration Center Bergjelandsgt. 30 N-4012 Stavanger Norway Has church records pass. lists of all Norw. ports & of Norw-american line censuses. library of family histories Charges unspecified fee. Sweden The House of Emigrants Box 201 S-351 04 Vaxjo 1 (umlauts on 'a' and 'o' of Vaxjo) Sweden 25000 title library, exhibits, Cafe Charges unspecified fee. CANADA And don't forget Canada! Many people came to the US via Canada because of less restrictive immigration requirements and other reasons. Some people even stayed there! For the Maritime Provinces, (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI), there exist only _very_ _scattered_ passenger lists before the 1880's. Usually the only time a list would exist is when the group of immigrants were sponsered by the government (eg. German/Swiss settlement in Lunenburg N.S.) To the best of my knowledge, there never was any large scale immigration to Newfoundland; a steady trickle over time, usually from the West Country (U.K.) fishermen and the like and some famine Irish. Starting in the mid-1880's, immigration became a Federal responsiblity and the passenger lists are perserved at the National Archives of Canada (and are consequently available on microfilm). For Nova Scotia, at least, there are NO INDICIES. The lists are organised chronologically and by ship. Thet cover the period until the beginning of WW I (when large-scale immigration from Europe obviously ceased). Lists exist for Halifax (Nova Scotia), Saint John (New Brunswick), and probably some smaller Maritime centers. There are also post -1880's lists for the Ontario Great Lakes ports and, I assume, Montreal, Quebec. The National Archives of Canada has produced various catalogs of material available via ILL and that will give more specific coverage of dates and ports for which the records exist. Charlotte, NY which was on Lake Ontario near Rochester, was also an international port servicing the trade with Canada. Some people came here by boat from Toronto. IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME The National Archives microfilm catalog "Immigrant and Passenger Arrivals" ($2.00 + S&H) lists available indexes and passenger lists for various ports. THANKS TO Cheryl_Singhal@cpafug.blkcat.com (Cheryl Singhal) (Filby explanation) PZAVON@news-feed.delphi.com (PZAVON@DELPHI.COM) (Canada-NY info) davidson@is.dal.ca (Jonathan Harris Davidson) (Canadian info) Paul Rakow (Hamburg explanation) atdyw@imap2.asu.edu (Dan Wilson, Arizona State Univ) (Addresses) Please send updates, additions, corrections, comments to me at: nicklaus@wishep.physics.wisc.edu September 28, 1995